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There has been a lot of good news coming out lately on the state of residential security, which over the past few years has been bolstered by interactive and connected services, home automation, DIY and the emergence of mobile everything.

Technavio recently released a report on the residential security market, which shows that from 2016 to 2020 the global market for residential security will grow at a 7.34 percent CAGR—from $21.93 billion to $31.25 billion. The North American market will rise to about $15 billion in 2020, up from $12.51 billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 4.56 percent.

On the heals of that research, a report on home automation from Zion Research shows that the global home automation market was valued at around $5.0 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $21.0 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of around 25 percent between 2015 and 2020.

Interestingly, the home automation market was dominated by North America, which accounted for about 40 percent of the total market in 2014. North America is followed by Europe and Asia Pacific, with Europe expected to witness robust growth in home automation systems market owing to strong demand from Germany, UK and France, according to the report.

The report also noted that the wireless system management segment dominated the home automation market in 2014, accounting for more than 40 percent of the overall market in 2014. With increasing use of products enabled with Wi-Fi technology, demand for wireless system management is expected to go up, the report said.

From my conversations with residential dealers, many are taking advantage of these new opportunities, providing scalable smart home packages that provide their customers with the kind of home automation customization and interactive services they are clamoring for, while increasing the potential RMR for an account.

Dealers are also finding that the more customers interact with their security and home automation systems, the more likely they are to stay a customer and add on services in the future. In addition to providing greater control over their security, surveillance, lighting and heating systems, homeowners are realizing energy savings, reduction in insurance costs, and overall greater peace of mind as a result of this smart home revolution.

As the studies mentioned above bear out, the potential within residential security is limitless.

Day three kicked off with the third general session. Next, the day's keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Rohm, opened up a discussion on different personalities and how businesses can use a variety of tactics to increase connections and sales.

Rhom lead the group through an exercise to see elements of their own personalities, whether they lean toward outgoing or reserved, task-oriented or people-oriented. Defining different pairings as dominant (outgoing and task oriented), inspiring (outgoing and people oriented), supportive (reserved and people oriented) and lastly the cautious-type (reserved and task oriented).

He then gave advice on how to approach folks with these personalities; dominant people like to see results and like to be their own boss, and supportive people like acceptance and appreciation.

In "Latest Advances in Fire Technology," Steven McCurdy, Honeywell Security and Fire's director of sales, strategic accounts, distributions products group, looked at several issues related to fire installations and where newer technologies fit in. He pointed to several different new state legislations, including New York, which mandated CO detectors in all commercial facilities-not just new buildings, and Illinois, with new and existing K-12 schools.

McCurdy discussed wireless detections and some its key applications, such as with historical buildings, places of worship, and parking garages. "it's been a great solution for this industry," he said.

Another key technology, according to McCurdy, is early detection. "We detect smoke, but what's happened? There's already a fire," he said. Earlier this year the company acquired early detection and fire technologies from Xtralis.

Stan Martin, SIAC's executive director, presented "Maximizing Law Enforcement Relationships," among the final sessions of this year's CONNECT. He looked at the benefits of security companies working with their local law enforcement.

Direct pieces of advice included talking with law enforcement about problem accounts and seeing what can be done about those customers. "Everyone has problem accounts," Martin said. Among first steps, he said, "You should know the alarm coordinator in the cities you operate in."

There are benefits of forming these relationships, Martin said, including notice of pending ordinance changes, "They might even call you and ask for your input."

Martin gave several examples of how companies can interface and communicate with its law enforcement, including inviting chiefs and council members to events in the alarm industry, or congratulating new promotions in the force.

It was great being at CONNECT this year, there were a lot of interesting conversations going on, both in the breakout sessions as well as in networking events. Hope to see you all next year!

Day Two

The second day kicked off with a general session. Marek Robinson, Honeywell Security & Fire’s VP of sales, intrusion, addressed this year’s theme, “Your Voice. Your Network. Your Future.” The dealer’s voice comes into the conference in the form of feedback on past CONNECT shows. As a result, he said, “We went about our breakout sessions in a completely different fashion.” This year, the educational sessions are 60 percent more dealer-lead. Dealers also said they would like to see more networking options, and the “network” comes in with a special networking reception organized for later in the day.

Robinson added that the future is looking bright. Business models are changing, he said, giving examples like Uber, a very large transportation company which owns no cars, and Airbnb, an icon in the accommodations industry, though it doesn’t own any real estate.

Todd Reif, president, Honeywell Fire Safety Americas, got on stage to talk a bit about the company’s approach to the IoT. Rief said that the company is looking to take a new approach, including more third party integrations, "We are moving from a closed stance ... to a more open stance."

Inder Reddy, president, Honeywell security products Americas, discussed several things, including Honeywell’s focus in 2016 on creating aesthetically pleasing systems and the new Lyric Gateway panel. The Gateway is really quick to install, he said, which leaves technicians with more time to engage with the user and walk through the new system. “A more engaged user is a more sticky user,” Reddy said.

Robinson included more voices from the dealer by bringing onstage Scott Hightower, president and CEO of Verified Security, to talk a bit about the benefits of the dealer network and Security Solutions’ Jamie Vos to discuss the future for the industry. Vos identified video technologies as a trend, adding that “video needs to be interactive” in order to beat lowest cost options that can be bought online.

Following the general session, I attended “Essential Components Of A Great Branding Strategy in the Digital Age,” presented by Tammy Beil, chief growth officer for marketing firm TABiel. Beil started the session by listing top recognized brands across thee world, including Google, McDonalds, Ford and Nike. Marketing and branding is a conscious effort, she said, "this is not something that happens haphazardly, there's a reason that you know these companies."

Branding, according to Beil, is a valuable asset to the company, and provides a return on the investment put into it. "If you do marketing right and you do your branding right, it will pay you back in spades," she said. “It will boost your immediate sales."

Beil advocated using social networks to push out marketing. One attendee in the branding question asked about how to best utilize LinkedIn. Beil advised interacting, engaging and joining groups on the site, as well as using it for a personal resource and to recruit. "Use it as a tool to leverage what you need."

“DIY- It's for Real” was among the next round of breakout sessions. Quentin Gunther, dealer development manager for Honeywell, opened the session. He began by addressing ecommerce, how prevalent it is, and how some companies may be able to operate an online store while maintaining their current model—though, it isn’t necessarily for every company.

Greg Judge, director of sales for Comtronics, spoke next on the methods Comtronics used in setting up a DIY offering. Comtronics operates 12 Verizon dealerships, apart from its security business, and sells a boxed DIY kit from those store, “This fit our model and we went with it.” Honeywell helped with the design of the box, he said, making it something that really shows what the product was designed for.

Part of the company’s go-to-market strategy involves setting up live demos in stores, complete with elements from the home. “They can see the lock move, they can see the lamps turn on and off,” Judge said.

Michael Morton, vice president of sales and marketing at EMC Security, discussed his experiences with DIY, which includes selling 200 systems since the company rolled out the offering this summer. "We do limit it, because we offer support. It's one of the big selling points for our services," Morton said. “If you can't quite get there, we have [techs] that are ready to go."

Morton said the company struggled with one point, "Do we really trust our customer to do this on their own? ... This is life safety." As a result, EMC does not offer DIY fire products or glass-break sensors.

During the second general session, David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures—a company that focuses on building new homes that come equipped with smart home technologies, shared his view on connected home. "Homes today are remarkably analog,” he said. “But, the rest of the world around us have changed in ways that you can't really explain.”

One issue that Kaiserman identified is when a salesperson complicates things by trying to sell a consumer on a system that they were ready to get, and then cause concern in the customer. “They don't have to worry about the complexity, they just get to experience the lifestyle,” he said.

Alice DeBiasio, vice president, general manager cloud services for Honeywell Security and Fire then got on stage to discuss some of Honeywell’s latest offerings. She highlighted the company’s integrations with Sky Bell and the August smart lock, as well as new push notifications, geofencing reminders to arm the system and a partnership with I-View Now.

The company is also doing new work with buildings, according to Brian Casey, Honeywell general manager of SMB solutions. There are more and enhanced video offerings, including with Honeywell’s Performance and Equip series cameras. "In the area of video, we are back in the game," Casey said.

This CONNECT’s first keynote speaker was motivational speaker and New York Times bestselling author Grant Cardone.

Cardone energetically covered many topics to selling, including the positives to disruption—that it brings change—and importance of using social media as a free form of promotion.

He approached the idea that business say they don't have time to utilize social media. To make a point, he used Snapchat to take a video, which he uploaded to Twitter in minutes, while on stage speaking.

My last educational session of the day was “25 Concrete Ways to Make Your Business Better Today,” presented by Affiliated Monitoring’s president Stanley Oppenheim. "We're going to do things here that you're going to take care of on Monday,” Oppenheim said.

The quality of trucks was one item he brought up. "You never roll a truck that has a dent in it," said Oppenheim. “It is no longer a truck, it is a rolling billboard. ... A dirty truck is inexcusable."

Another piece of advice was to always recruit, including with wait staff at restaurants and salespeople that call the office—anyone that gives a great impression. "Your best employees will come from non traditional sources," he said.

At the networking reception, created following feedback Honeywell received on the CONNECT event, I got the chance to meet several members of the Security One team, including SSN “20 under 40” winner, Chris Neumann. Corey Robertson, Security ONE director of marketing, said that things have been well following the company’s acquisition of Homematix.

It was also great hearing from dealers including Stuart Lowe, vice president – key/national accounts for Lifeline Security and Fire, and Isaac Walton, security sales and management, Advanced Electric & Alarm Systems, about the benefits they saw in the Gateway panel, such as with apartment buildings or people who would use their phone for most of their security functions.

Finally, today was Veterans Day and it was great to see speakers voice their support for those who have served in the military, as well as their families.

Day One

I made it down to Florida safely from Maine, arriving this afternoon.

The first session I attended was "What Behavioral Insight REALLY Can Do for You," presented by Carletta Clyatt, senior vice president of the Omnia Group. Clyatt took an interesting look into workplace dynamics by discussing recognizable work styles and behaviors in both leaders and employees. For example, she advised the attendees to consider how a leader who is very routine-focused could best work with an employee who prefers a varied workplace, with new challenges.

Additionally Clyatt discussed how different types of people can be motivated by different things. As an example, she said that her sales people—typically having an assertive personality—are motivated by individual goals, while her service employees—less assertive and more group focused—responded better team-rewards.

“Merging a Diverse Workforce,” the second session I attended, also approached the workplace and its variety of different employees. Jamie Vos, general manager for Security Solutions, looked at five different generations (traditionalists, baby boomers, gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Z—or, ‘gamers’) and their unique motivating factors.

Each generation is looking for a different environment, culture, set of rewards and benefits, according to Vos. Baby boomers might want more control in their position, while millennials tend to value more time off. Traditionalists might want flexible work hours, while gen Xers would like rewards like gift cards—not a bonus to be put toward bills.

Vos highlighted the need to look at a company’s culture as well as its environment. “You need to discover what your culture is,” he said. “You need to put it into words.” This means exploring why the company exists, how its employees behave, what it is the company does, and how it plans to succeed.

Also today, Honeywell announced the new Lyric Gateway—a simplified panel that can allow dealers to pursue new markets, such as renters, condo and second homeowners, and those who frequently move. The panel offers a simple design, sporting a keypad without a touchscreen display, doesn’t need to be wall mounted and comes with a desk stand.

Here in Florida, I got the chance to talk about the new system with George Janelis, Honeywell’s senior channel manager for builder and connected home markets. The simplified format allows the unit to be hooked up either with the customer’s WiFi or Ethernet and plug into the wall for power, which increases dealers’ profitability by decreasing the time needed for the install, he said.

Janelis told me that the system is mobile-centric, and can work with users’ connected home devices- it also uses voice notifications from the panel to transmit alarm information easily to the user. “We’re getting a huge amount of positive feedback from [our dealers],” he said.

Pre-conference

Early Thursday morning I’ll be headed down to Hollywood, Fla., for Honeywell’s 2016 CONNECT conference.

Looking over the schedule of sessions, it looks like there will be some interesting conversations about DIY offerings—including Honeywell’s DragonFly offering—as well as on hiring a business culture.

I’ll be updating this blog periodically, highlighting some of the people I meet and key conversations as well as interesting educational sessions—hope to see some of you down there! Check back for more details.

Last week’s malware attack sent a sobering chill through the security industry, as it illuminated the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of IoT products, showing how easy it is to hack into unsecured IP devices.

The hackers, who were able to affect sites including Twitter, Spotify and CNN, launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack using tens of millions of malware-infected devices connected to the Internet to overwhelm Dyn, a provider of Domain Name System services.

Although the attack amounted to a temporary inconvenience for millions, it underscored the need for cybersecurity standards for the IoT world.

Toward that end, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) released this month a new guidance report titled “Future-proofing the Connected World: 13 Steps to Developing Secure IoT Products,” which was created to help designers and developers of IoT-related products and services understand the basic security measures that must be incorporated throughout the development process.

With the release of this report, the CSA looks to provide much needed education and direction to product developers who know their products are at risk of compromise, but may lack the understanding as to where to start the process for mitigating that risk.

“It is often heard in our industry that securing IoT products and systems is an insurmountable effort,” Brian Russell, chair IoT Working Group and chief engineer, cyber security solutions with Leidos, said in the announcement. “However, with the help of our extremely knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers, we are providing a strong starting point for organizations that have begun transforming their existing products into IoT-enabled devices, as well as newly emerging IoT startups. We hope to empower developers and organizations with the ability to create a security strategy that will help mitigate the most pressing threats to both consumer and business IoT products.”

Specifically, the report lays out 13 considerations and guidance for designing and developing reasonably secure IoT devices, to mitigate some of the more common issues that can be found with IoT device development. Additionally, realizing that often times there is a need to quickly identify the critical security items in a product development lifecycle, researchers also outline the top five security considerations that when applied will begin to increase an IoT product’s security posture substantially.

The CSA IoT Working Group is focusing on understanding the relevant use cases for IoT deployments and defining actionable guidance for security practitioners to secure their implementations. The group is led by Russell, with initiative leads Priya Kuber and Dr. Shyam Sundaram. Nearly 30 CSA IoT working group members contributed to development of the 80-plus page guidance report.

The Electronic Security Association recently announced that Dr. Joseph Kuhns, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of North Carolina, will be the keynote speaker for the 2017 ESA Leadership Summit, to be held Feb. 12 through Feb. 15 in Tampa, Fla.

“Dr. Kuhns brings extensive experience and knowledge from the world of criminology that will provide attendees with helpful data that can be applied to how they approach the market and work with their customers,” Merlin Guilbeau, CEO of the Electronic Security Association, told Security Systems News in an email interview.

Kuhns will present the general session, entitled “Burglary Victim Adaptations & What Security Businesses Should Know,” on Monday, February 13 at 12:45 p.m.

Security businesses will be given statistics and information that they will be able to use when training employees, marketing their businesses and advising customers on the best methods to secure their premises,” Guilbeau said. “Attendees will also be able to understand the change of mindset post-burglary to better serve the segment of the market that has experienced a break in.”

In ESA’s announcement, Dr. Kuhns said, “Residential burglary victims should know that their chances of being victimized again, following a successful burglary, are frequently high. Therefore, improving their home safety and security, in multiple ways, is highly recommended.”

There will be new features at the upcoming summit, according to Guilbeau, such as a new app for the event’s schedule, details, sponsor information and for communication between attendees. “We are also introducing an attendee engagement tool, so that the audience can interact live with speakers at the Summit,” he said.

“Education and networking are the two key components of the Summit’s program, and we fully expect that this topic and the findings shared by Dr. Kuhns will provide attendees with a lot to discuss with one another during all of the social events,” Guilbeau said.

COPS Monitoring recently announced that it was able to achieve a 12.4 second average response time during Hurricane Matthew—quicker than the company’s 13.9 second average for priority response in the past 12 months. COPS gave credit to its team for the achievement.

“Achieving a 13.9 second response time is difficult enough. When a situation like severe weather causes alarm traffic to increase 20 to 30 percent, it’s not uncommon for many central stations to have response times that are much higher; sometimes minutes, rather than seconds,” David Smith, COPS’ VP of marketing & business development, told Security Systems News via email. “So, the fact that we were able to reduce an already fast response time by more than 10 percent for five straight days despite a significant increase in alarm traffic is truly a remarkable feat.”

“The 12.4 second response time was for all priority alarms nationwide; including the alarms in the areas that were affected,” Smith continued. “Luckily, the eye of the storm stayed off the coast and we only experienced a lot of rain and wind from the outer storm bands.”

COPS had a disaster preparedness plan in place, including having its Boca Raton, Fla., monitoring center built to stand up to a hurricane. “The extensive planning is what gave us the flexibility to allow us to reduce our staff in Florida so they could focus on their own homes and families. Because all the hard work had already been done, planning for Hurricane Matthew involved over-staffing our other central stations to compensate. We have a great team at COPS and there is never a shortage of volunteers – including from our Florida central station.”

In the announcement, Jim McMullen, president and COO of COPS Monitoring, said that the company was planning to reduce the staff in the Boca Raton monitoring center to “just a few essential technical support members. … However, after ensuring their families were safe, several dispatchers committed to working through the storm to help protect our dealers and their subscribers,” McMullen said in a prepared statement.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—Several reports have come out in the past month looking to quantify growth within security, each illuminating the fact that the industry is growing both here in North America and globally as well.

In terms of the global security market, the first Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC), released last week, forecasts that worldwide revenues for security-related hardware, software, and services will grow from $73.7 billion in 2016 to $101.6 billion in 2020—at a CAGR of 8.3 percent, more than twice the rate of overall IT spending growth over the five-year forecast period.

The largest category of investment will be security-related services, which will account for nearly 45 percent of all security spending worldwide in 2016, and the largest segment within that category, managed security services, is forecast to generate revenues of $13 billion this year. Security software will be the second largest category in 2016, with endpoint security, identity and access management, and security and vulnerability management software driving more than 75 percent of the category's revenues.

The industries making the largest investments in security solutions in 2016 will be banking ($8.6 billion), followed by discrete manufacturing, federal/central government, and process manufacturing. The industries that will see the fastest growth in their security investments will be healthcare, followed by telecommunications, utilities, state/local government, and securities and investment services. Each of these industries will experience CAGRs above 9.0 percent over the forecast period.

Interestingly, one of the fastest growing segments of the security products market will be user-behavior analytics software—growing at a CAGR of 12.2 percent through 2020, an area that many of our "20 under 40" Class of 2016 winners, both integrators and end users, mentioned as one of the most promising technology areas right now in the industry.

Many are working to get to a point where all of the data coming in, including video, can be mined and managed for use with predictive analytics, better time management, faster and more accurate alarm verification, operational efficiencies—the list goes on an on.

The topic also generated a lot of interest in this month's News Poll, where we asked you, our readers, about the top emerging technologies coming out of ASIS 2016 in September. According to 43 percent of respondents, video surveillance and VMS was the most talked about technology at ASIS 2016, with thirty-one percent saying that big data/analytics was the most talked about.

All told, there is a lot to get excited about in the industry right now.

CALHOUN, Ga.—Owen Security Solutions, based here, announced today that it has acquired Tight Security Systems.

Justin Owen, company president, told Security Systems News that the company will continue to grow by acquisitions in the future. “Financially speaking, it just makes too much sense to not go down that road.” The company isn’t looking to complete any before December, he added.

The 600 account addition brings Owen Security's total customer base over the 5000 account mark. Owen said that the company started 2016 with about 3000 accounts.

This is the third acquisition, both this year and in the company's history, for Owen. The company acquired the accounts of Davis Security Services in September, and Medley Systems in July.

Scott Bishop, the owner of Tight Security, will join Owen Security to help the transition. “He’s staying on with us as a hybrid position, [responsible for] business development, service technician, technician trainer,” Owen said.

“Extends our footprint a little bit, geographically speaking. But, for the most part, we’re already overlapping that area with plenty of customers,” Owen said.

Tight Security’s business, based out of Ellijay, Ga., was about 95 percent residential, Owen estimated, with some small retail accounts. Owen Security is about 60 percent residential.

Owen Security and Tight Security are both in small communities, Owen pointed out. “We feel like it's a good culture fit, and we can work with his customers really well,” he said.

Owen Security currently has about 30 employees, but is looking to add on between three and five more before the end of the year, Owen said.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Convergint Technologies, a global systems integration company with headquarters here, completed its seventh acquisition of the year with the purchase of Go Security Solutions, a systems integrator based in Westborough, Mass.

Dan Moceri, executive chairman and co-founder of Convergint Technologies, told Security Systems News that he is excited to have the Go Security Solutions team join the Convergint family.

“The company fits the criteria that we are looking for, which includes a strong culture—similar to Convergint’s—that is focused on service and the customer,” said Moceri. “They have a great reputation in the marketplace and really bring additional capabilities to extend service to our customers.”

Moceri said the deal increases Convergint’s footprint in the Northeast. “It is a highly populated area, and we need to add resources,” he said. “We are growing in excess of 20 percent, and we are hiring more than a person a day somewhere in the world to support that growth and be able to provide the type of service that our customers have come to expect from us.”

Go Security Solutions is the seventh acquisition that Convergint has completed since January of 2016.

“We continue to grow organically but we also have supplemented that with strategic acquisitions where it makes sense to do that, and in some cases it is geographic coverage,” Moceri explained. “Our business in the northeast has been growing very nicely, and we are hiring people as fast as we can, but in some cases we are supplementing that with key acquisitions that can bring us additional resources.”

What is the key to Convergint’s success? “We invest a lot in the training and development of our team,” said Moceri. “There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into the infrastructure to support the growth, and we’ve spent a lot of time and money identifying the future leaders, and a lot of those leaders will come out of the organization itself, but we also look to some of the acquisitions to supplement the leadership needs of the organization as well.”

In terms of overall growth, Moceri said that Convergint “will get close” to the $600 million revenue mark for 2016, which “is up significantly from the $470 million that we were at last year,” he said.

When asked if Convergint is done on the acquisition front this year, Moceri said, “We’ve got quite a few acquisitions in the pipeline, and now that we are getting toward the end of the year, timing is everything. We have the potential of closing at least one more deal by the end of the year, and we expect to be just as active in 2017 as we were in 2016.”

BOCA RATON, Fla.—ADT has joined PPVAR, the Partnership for Priority Verified Alarm Response, according to an announcement on Monday.

“As a full industry member, ADT is entitled to participate in the ongoing development of best practices between the alarm industry and law enforcement on many different levels,” Larry Folsom, president of PPVAR told Security Systems News in an email interview. “As members, PPVAR stakeholders are moving beyond the ‘wait and see’ of alarm verification evolution, and instead are part of the conversation that is shaping the future.”

Adding ADT assists the organization with its message. “Every voice that joins this conversation helps advance the PPVAR mission of promoting and prioritizing verified alarm response, but gaining the voice of ADT is particularly important,” Folsom said. “This is a company that represents millions of monitoring subscribers across almost every police jurisdiction in the land.”

ADT has a lot to offer in terms of relationships, ideas, time, and resources, Folsom added.

“ADT strongly believes in the process and the values of PPVAR and its members,” Don Young, chief information officer at ADT, said in a prepared statement. “The emergence of high-quality video and intrusion detection technology, and the resulting rise in efficiency of central monitoring practices, has been undeniable in the effectiveness of alarm verification for protecting the public and law enforcement alike.”

Folsom said that ADT has already become involved in the organization. “ADT has hit the ground running and has already expressed interest in helping with the refinement of our best practices and the development of operator training,” according to Folsom.

PPVAR, established in 2012, currently has almost 80 member companies, according to Folsom. “In the long-term, the addition of ADT further stabilizes the organization and ensures its health and vitality well into the future,” he said.

LONDON—The market share of the top 15 security equipment and services companies will continue to grow through 2020, according to latest IHS Markit Physical Security Equipment and Services Report, released this week.

The combined equipment and services market was estimated to be $123.67 billion in 2015, with the equipment market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.5 percent to 2020, and the services market forecast to grow at a CAGR 4.5 percent to 2020, according to Oliver Philippou, IHS Markit senior analyst.

“The market share of the top 15 security equipment and services companies accounted for 21.4 percent of the equipment and services market in 2014, growing to 23.1 percent in 2015,” Philippou told Security Systems News, a trend that he expects to continue in 2016 with all of the consolidation that is taking place.

“It is important to note that this market share estimate does not include mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in 2016, such as the merger of Tyco with Johnson Controls, the acquisition of Diebold’s North American electronics security business by Securitas, the acquisition of ADT by Apollo Global Management and merger with Protection 1 and ASG Security,” he explained. “These three deals will further expand the market share of the top 15 security companies.”

IHS estimates that in 2015 Tyco International was the largest supplier to the equipment and services market, comprising 3.8 percent of the market, followed by ADT at 2.9 percent, and the biggest mover, Hikvision at 2.5 percent.

But it is not just large-scale acquisitions that are concentrating supply. “Chinese firms like Hikvision and Dahua Technology have continued to grow much faster than the market average, not only in their domestic market but internationally, too,” said Philippou. “Part of their success has been down to offering products at lower prices than their competitors.”

The report also found that integrators are increasingly leveraging single-vendor solutions to reduce installation costs and focus on the more profitable service and maintenance contracts.

“The market share data of the solutions providers has increased more than the ‘best of breed’ vendors—this was the initial trigger to investigate this,” noted Philippou. “When speaking with integrators we found that the mid- to low end market has seen an increase in the use of solutions providers, [which] allows integrators to get better deals on equipment that is supposed to be easier to install as integration is not as difficult.”

Editor’s note: For this IHS report, the equipment market consists of video surveillance, access control, intruder alarms, entrance control, consumer video surveillance, mobile video surveillance and body-worn cameras, and enterprise storage, while the services market consists of access control as a service (ACaaS), video surveillance as a service (VSaaS), remote monitoring services, and security systems integration.